Heavy Metal— Women to Watch 2018

WASHINGTON—The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is pleased to announce the artists selected for the upcoming exhibition Heavy Metal— Women to Watch 2018, on view June 28–Sept. 16, 2018. Showcasing contemporary artists working in metal, the fifth installment of NMWA’s Women to Watch exhibition series features up-and-coming or underrepresented artists from the states and countries where the museum has outreach committees. In consultation with contemporary art curators in their respective regions, the committees created shortlists of artists who work with metal— this year’s theme. The artists and works for inclusion in the summer exhibition were then selected by NMWA’s curatorial team from these submissions.

The featured artists investigate the physical properties and expressive possibilities of metalwork through objects including sculpture, jewelry and conceptual forms. Inspired by NMWA’s own collection of silverwork crafted by women in the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition seeks to further disrupt the predominantly masculine narrative that surrounds metalworking, while engaging with the traditional distinctions between fine art, design, craft and decorative art, whose definitions are rooted in gender discrimination. The works in Heavy Metal—ranging from large-scale installations to small objects intended for personal adornment—are created from iron, steel, bronze, brass, tin, aluminum, copper and pewter.

Heavy Metal—Women to Watch 2018 Nominating Committees, Selected Artists and Curators:

Arkansas 

Selected Artist: Holly Laws
Curators: Matthew Smith, Arkansas Art Center

California (Southern) 

Selected Artist: Kerianne Quick
Curator: Bobbye Tigerman, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

California (Northern) 

Selected Artist: Katherine Vetne
Curator: Jenny Gheith, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Chile 

Selected Artist: Alejandra Prieto
Curator: Gloria Cortés Aliaga, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Florida 

Selected Artist: Carolina Sardi
Curator: Diana Nawi, Pérez Art Museum

France 

Selected Artist: Charlotte Charbonnel Curator: Alicia Knock, Centre Pompidou

Georgia 

Selected Artist: Lola Brooks
Curator: Sarah Schleuning, High Museum of Art

Italy 

Selected Artist: Serena Porrati
Curator: Iolanda Ratti, Museo del Novecento

Greater Kansas City Area 

Selected Artist: Cheryl Eve Acosta
Curator: Barbara O’Brien, Formerly of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Massachusetts 

Selected Artist: Venetia Dale
Curator: Emily Zilber, editor, Metalsmith (Formerly of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Mid-Atlantic Region 

Selected Artist: Susie Ganch
Curators: Stefanie Fedor, Visual Arts Center of Richmond; Megan Rook-Koepsel, independent curator

Mississippi 

Selected Artist: Kelsey Wishik
Curator: Pat Pinson, Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center

New Mexico 

Selected Artist: Paula Castillo
Curator: Laura Addison, Museum of International Folk Art

Greater New York Region 

Selected Artist: Alice Hope
Curators: Shannon Stratton, Museum of Arts and Design

Ohio 

Selected Artist: Leila Khoury
Curators: Reto Thüring, Cleveland Museum of Art; Matt Distel, Cincinnati Art Museum

Peru 

Selected Artist: Carolina Rieckhof Brommer Curator: Sharon Lerner, Museo de Arte de Lima

Spain 

Selected Artist: Blanca Muñoz
Curator: Lucia Ybarra, YGB Art and Factoría Cultural

Sweden 

Selected Artist: Petronella Eriksson
Curator: Inger Wästberg, independent curator

Texas 

Selected Artist: Beverly Penn
Curator: Virginia Treanor, National Museum of Women in the Arts

United Kingdom 

Selected Artist: Rana Begum
Curator: Caroline Douglas, Contemporary Art Society

Heavy Metal—Women to Watch 2018 is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and generously sponsored by the participating committees in Arkansas, Southern California, Chile, Florida, France, Georgia, Italy, the Greater Kansas City Area, Massachusetts, the Mid-Atlantic Region, Mississippi, New Mexico, the Greater New York Area, Northern California, Ohio, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Texas, and the United Kingdom. Additional support is provided by the Clara M. Lovett Emerging Artists Fund, the NMWA Advisory Board, and the San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA.